The Case of the Missing Crown
by 13bookworm
Summary: Queen Clarion's crown has gone missing and somehow it ends up in Lord Milori's hands as he's running away from a group of elite Scout Fairies. Things don't look good and no one believes he's innocent, not even Clarion! What is he supposed to do when he's on trial against the one fairy he ever loved? Milori will need help from his friends to find what's going on.
1. Chapter 1

**We were happy once, but it all fell apart, then nothing was the same again.**

* * *

"Lord Milori, get back here!" a scouting fairy yelled.

Milori continued running through the forest, pushing away every branch that came into his way. He was panting and out of breath, but he couldn't stop. No, why was this happening? His name rang throughout the forest as fairies continued to call out his name. He wasn't sure the specific direction the scouting fairies were coming from and by extension Milori had no idea where he was going after all the twists and turns he made.

The voices were getting louder, at least that's what he thought, and things were starting to appear more familiar. These trees were becoming more and more spaced apart and there were some small patches of grass. Clumps of snow fell from the tops of the trees and icicles formed from the ends of branches. Oh no, this was beginning to be too familiar. Milori knew exactly where he was now and he didn't like it at all. The voices he had been hearing weren't those of the scouting fairies that were chasing him after all. They were something much worse.

Milori stumbled into the open and almost fell at someone's feet. He was crouched low to the ground, panting hard. When he looked up Clarion was staring down at him, shock was what her face read. A sparrowman, Benedict was his name if Milori remembered correctly, was standing beside her. "Milori, what is the meaning of this?" her voice was shaky and she was no longer looking at him, but what was in his hand. He glanced down to the crown still in his hand which he had almost forgotten about.

The group of elite Scout Fairies came zipping out of the forest and suddenly pinned Milori to the ground. "Lord Milori, you are under arrest, for the commit of treason and stealing of a royal possession." They bound his wrist together and tore the crown from his grasp to hand it back to Queen Clarion.

"Clarion, it's not what you think... this isn't what it looks like!"

"Queen Clarion." She turned to face Benedict for a moment and then back to Milori.

"Take him away," she ordered.

The scout fairies began to drag him off, but he tried to their grasps making it a struggle for them. "Clarion, no please, I can explain! I'm innocent! I can prove it!" Then they dragged him off.

"Queen Clarion, let's go get you a cup of tea," Benedict suggested when he saw her nearly in tears. She wiped her eyes and nodded to him. "A nice warm cup of mint tea is going to have your name on it."

Clarion barely sipped her tea, instead she threw it at the wall, "That lying!" The cup instantly shattered against the door and tea was everywhere. With a wave of his hand the cup pieced back together, the tea disappeared, and the cup floated into Benedict's hand. He handed the cup back to Queen Clarion. "Stealing!" The process repeated. "Traitor!" She was about to throw it once more, but then she let out a sigh and put the cup back down onto the counter. "I trusted him! I loved him! Then he crushed me... and I let him do it."

Milori was shoved into a cell and locked inside. "Traitor," one of the guards muttered. Milori let out a grumble and stared at the wall. I'm innocent, Clarion. I love you, please believe me. I never meant to hurt you. He walked up to the bars of his cell and glanced over to see what the guards were doing. One was reading something and the other was flirting with a art fairy. Milori grabbed two bars and tried to pull them apart. The one reading put down his magazine and looked over. "What are you doing over there? Stop that."

"I have the right to speak with someone!" he yelled.

The guard came over, "What do you want?"

"I need to speak with the Minister of Autumn."

The guard let out a sigh, "Get a messenger fairy down here."

Milori began to doze off thinking about early that morning. He and Clarion had been walking down to get her crown after it being knocked from her head the day before and getting dinged. Of course it was an accident and no one got in trouble, but the crown's keepers insisted they fix it immediately. That was the moment where everything began to fall apart, the instant they were told that the crown was missing.

"Who would do such a thing?" Clarion had asked bewildered.

"Look, we're going to find it," Milori said.

"Well, I'm not exactly worried, I mean it has no value outside of the hollow."

Seeing him stumble out of the woods and to her feet with her crown in hand probably made her want to slap him. She most likely hated him.

A few minutes later, "I request the Minister of Autumn's presence."

"Will do sir," she paused for a moment and looked back at the guards, "We still believe in you."

The messenger left and went to find the minister and an hour later, which almost felt like days, the minister came down to Milori's cell. "How are things up there?"

"Queen Clarion is pretty bent up, and your trial is tomorrow."

"How bad is she?"

"There's a few broken glasses in the kitchen, but the cooking fairies can handle it. Benedict is with her. He hasn't left her side all day."

"Great."

"So do you really think you can prove you're innocent."

"That's why you're hear."

"You want to drag me into the middle of this! What do you expect me to do!"

"I don't know."


	2. Chapter 2

Milori didn't sleep at all that night, he couldn't. He couldn't stop thinking about his trial the next morning. How was he supposed to prove that he was in fact innocent? At this point Clarion probably wouldn't take his word for it. What was he kidding himself for, he knew she definitely wouldn't take his word for it. Though for some reason he began to wonder why she wouldn't believe him. He broke his wings for her and still cared about her for all these years. Even now he was in love with her after being thrown in this cell.

It felt like years before he was freed from his cell, but the moment he was shackles firmly clamped around his wrists. Milori could easily snapped them in half, just like the bars of the cell, but on the way to his own trial it wouldn't look too good if he tried to run. Next, they removed his cape which startled him and he went to snatch the cape back. He let out a growl, it felt like he was naked and exposed now without his cape, but Milori allowed them to escort him to the courtroom. Inside he was showed off to the fairies sitting in lined rows, he could tell they were staring at his back. Milori was seated at a table to the left. In the row behind him sat the ministers, the Keeper, and Fairy Mary. Milori turned to face Red, but was interrupted.

"Oh rise," a sparrowman called out as everyone stood, including Milori.

Clarion then entered the room, looking in Milori's direction out of the corner of her eye. Holding back tears was a struggle, but she couldn't show weakness, not in front of these fairies and especially not him. The fairies sitting in rows were somewhat amazed that she even showed up, but they did believe she was very brave. Milori would know everything that would make her wince and they all wondered if he would use that against her. "Lord Milori, you have been charged with treason and theft. How do you plead?" It was a struggle to keep her composure, but she managed it enough.

_Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! _

It was echoing in his head which was really starting to annoy him. "Fine, guilty!" Milori grumbled. His eyes widened at the sudden realization of what he had said had been in fact out loud. Everyone gasped and stared at him in surprise. Clarion froze, it all was too much for her. "Clarion, that's not what I meant to say!" he cried, "You have to believe me!"

"What am I supposed to believe?"

"Me, believe me!"

The courtroom could obviously tell this was becoming more and more personal. It was more arguing between the two rulers than anything else.

"Why should I?"

Milori then turned around and did the one thing everyone feared he would do. "Do you see this?" He was referring to his broken wing, "Does this mean nothing to you?"

"Milori, please!" Clarion begged as tears began to well in her eyes, but he went on.

"I loved you enough to risk my entire existence! And this is how you..." He suddenly stopped when he saw her crying, Milori wanted to punch himself in the gut.

Benedict went up to her and tried to comfort her by whispering something in her ear. He turned back to the court, "Guards, take him back to his cell. He's going to need to get comfortable, the Lord of Winter will be staying there for a while."

Two guards came up grabbed him from behind as Queen Clarion was led out of the courtroom. Milori and the two guards then followed leaving everyone else to gossip about what had just happened. In the next hour, everyone in Neverland would know of this. Outside Benedict was still trying to calm her down and Milori was being dragged the opposite way. "Clarion, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to yell, I don't want to make you cry." She had no reaction, so she was either ignoring him or just hadn't heard him. Milori began to pull against the chains holding him back, but the guards pulled even tighter. He was in a rage and suddenly snapped the shackles, causing the two guards to fall. Both Clarion and Benedict looked over to see them lying there and Milori a few feet away crouched low to the ground, panting. "Clarion, I-"

"Don't you think you done enough?" Benedict interrupted.

"But Clarion, I was-" Milori was interrupted once more as the shackles were clenched around his wrists. He continued to pull as Clarion and Benedict started walking away again. The chains were suddenly pulled tighter and he was starting slide back. The Minister of Autumn was holding tight onto the chains and using his wing power to hold Milori back.

Milori's chest began to feel tight and he stopped fighting against the minister. Red then noticed that he stopped struggling and let go of the chains. The pain then swelled tremendously and Milori let out a grunt of pain. Now the two guards and the minister were staring down at him in amazement. He was shivering and shaking like crazy, but they were in the hollow. His head began to throb and Clarion was beginning to blur as he watched her walk away. As she and Benedict rounded the corner everything started to fade. "Clarion... I'm... Sorry." Milori then collapsed to the ground. He started coughing and choking for air and then everything went black.

_Milori awoke lying in the snow, staring up at the trees and the falling snow. His head was throbbing as if something had been thrown at him or slammed into the back of his head. A dark figure stepped over him and threw something shiny into his lap. The figure laughed, "She will be mine." His voice seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on whose voice it was. _

_Letting out a groan as he did, Milori sat up and looked around to figure out where he was. Something reflective caught his attention and he noticed Clarion's crown was in his lap. Milori was still trying to put the pieces together, but then he heard voices coming closer. The elite scouting fairies that had been sent to find the crown and who had stolen it were suddenly in front of him staring down in disbelief. Milori knew what this looked like and stood up and slid down the hill and started running._

"_Lord Milori, get back here!"_

_Running was only making this worse, but what was he supposed to do? Everything started to become familiar and he could hear voices that sounded like the scouts were gaining on him. Milori out of no where tripped and came sliding out of the Winter Woods, across the border. When he looked up he was staring up at Clarion. _

"_Guards, take him away!" he heard Benedict order._

_That was the voice he had heard in the woods._

Milori awoke with a sudden intake of breath, he sat there panting. He then realized that he was in the infirmary. _What happened?_ Something then poked through his skin and he let out a yelp."Oww!" He turned to see a nurse with a needle and vial filled with blood. Milori tried to get up but one of his arms was pulled and he saw that he was shackled to a bed. "What's going on here?"

"We're taking samples of your blood," a nurse answered.

"Why? What am I doing here?" He started pulling on the shackles again and struggling.

"You're only making this harder."

"Why do you need my blood? I need answers!"

"Lord Milori, everything is going to be all right."

"Bring me someone who will give me answers!" The Keeper then came forward, "Keeper?"

The nurses all glanced over to him. "It's alright, I can handle this."

"What happened? Where's Clarion?"

"She's fine."

"Why am I shackled to a bed?"

"Do you remember the trial at all?"

"I remember that, but what am I doing here?"

"After the trial, you experienced a seizure. No one knows why, but the Minister of Autumn and the guards brought you here to be tested."

"Did she..."

"Queen Clarion was not aware of your convulsions, until she was notified. She came here to see you, but she was only here a few moments. She left this for you." Dewey handed him an envelope.

The Keeper left him to open it, and as Milori stared at the envelope he was scared to open it. He wanted to know what she said, but he was worried about what she was going to say. He finally got the courage to and read;

_Milori,_

_If you are reading this, then that must mean you are okay. I'm sorry to hear what has happened, but that doesn't change what has been done. This is not the best way to tell you this, but I could not face you and see your expression as I told you. It has been agreed by the council that you be stripped of your lordship. The vote was not unanimous, but the majority overruled. This will be made public tomorrow morning. I'm glad that you are okay, but I don't know what else to do. If you haven't seen it already, there is something else in the envelope._

_Clarion_

Milori set down the letter and took the envelope in hand. A necklace then dropped into his other. The pendant was a cobalt gem wrapped in lines of silver. He had given this to her for her birthday when he had first met her and she had worn it everyday, but now she was giving it back to him in an envelope. Milori started wailing as tears dripped down from his eyes. Across the room Dewey watched him and let out a sigh. He had seen the necklace and knew that Milori had given it to her. He didn't have the heart to tell him that he would have to go back to his cell.


End file.
